Eric Best - Jour 3101

I chose this data on DOE crime reports used in this story.

The writer takes the juiciest and most journalistic data points--usually in the form of paraphrased data--and uses them as paraphrased quotes of the researchers involved in the study. This is an effective way to use large data sets because you can extract the main ideas easily from reading a story. The obvious drawback is that the reader does not get the proper context of the research or variables involved in the data set, and the actual numbers aren't reported typically. The reporter needed to be able to understand a very detailed set of crime reports, and along with the graphics of the article, had to most likely pair with a visual designer to create graphics based on this data set. The news organization must have used databases of information to find these detailed data sets, or attained them from government sources with the task of creating such data.

St. Paul school teacher Megan Hall won 2013 Minnesota Teacher of the Year and a $6,000 prize on Sunday, the Star Tribune reported.

Hall, who has taught science for 11 years in St. Paul public schools, was chosen from 135 teachers from around the state in the contest's 49th year, the Pioneer Press reported.

Hall teaches at Open World Learning Community School in downtown St. Paul where she teaches life science, Adance Placement Environmental Science and biology. Hall started volunteering there in 2000 and joined the faculty in 2006, the Pioneer Press reported.

Hall said she was a pre-med student at Macalester College, where she had a great science professor who inspired her to go into education, the Star Tribune reported.

A referee for a recreational soccer league who was punched in the face by a teenager has died, police in Salt Lake City said, CNN reported.

Ricardo Portillo, 46, was refereeing a game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville on April 27 when he cited a player for an infraction and issued him a "yellow card," FOX News reported.

The 17-year-old player then turned around and punched Portillo in the face, police said.

Authorities thought Portillo simply suffered only minor injuries from the assault, but after he was taken to a hospital, doctors discovered he had suffered serious internal head injuries, police said.

For seven days, Portillo remained in critical condition before dying on Saturday, CNN reported.

An American military refueling plane took off and crashed in Kyrgyzstan, U.S. officials said.

A U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft crashed in a mountainous area between Chorgolu and Cholok-Ary, according to the expeditionary wing's Public Affairs Transit Center at Manas, near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, CNN reported. The status of the three people aboard the plane is unknown.

In the Chuysky region of northern Kyrgyzstan, and a fire crew and three ambulances responded to the crash.

The plane was on a refueling mission for Afghanistan war operations at the time of the crash, a U.S. defense official in Washington said in an interview with USA Today.

Minnesotans will attempt to break the world record for tree-hugging this week at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the Star Tribune reported.

A record 702 people hugged trees in the Delamere Forest of Cheshire in the U.K. in 2011, the Star Tribune reported.

Minnesotans will attempt to break that record on Friday. The record involves hundreds of volunteers hugging trees along the shade trees on Pillsbury, the Star Tribune reported.

The event occurs on National Public Gardens Day, an annual occasion that celebrates more than 500 public gardens in North America and the role they play in environmental education, awareness and stewardship, according to the University Arboretum.

In honor of the day, the arboretum will offer free admission all day, and special activities and prize giveaways between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

A Grimes, Iowa woman is in the hospital after a dog attacked her, her husband and the couple's dog on Sunday evening.

Caren Henry was walking her own dog when a 60-pound Labrador retriever mix launched itself at her, sinking its teeth into her thigh, stomach and face, KDVR news reported.

Her husband Laine was driving to pick her up from her walk in Madrid, Iowa, when he saw the attack taking place and jumped out to rescue her, Metro News reported.

He revealed after the ordeal he had been forced to bite the dog to make it release its grip on his wife and their pet dog, Metro News reported.

She will have to have several reconstructive surgeries to fix her nose, KDVR reported.

President Barack Obama on Monday plans to nominate Anthony R. Foxx, the mayor of Charlotte, N.C., to be the next secretary of transportation, the New York Times reported.

Foxx, a young African-American from the South, may be seen to balance out a cabinet criticized for a lack of diversity, the Times reported.

The selections, all of which would require Senate confirmation, would help fill out Obama's second-term cabinet more than five months after his re-election, NBC News reported.

Word of Mr. Foxx's nomination was confirmed on Sunday by White House officials who insisted on anonymity to discuss it before the formal announcement.

urrent Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood planned to leave the post early into Obama's second term, but budget battles in Washington kept him on the job longer than anticipated. LaHood is expected to stay on until Foxx is confirmed by the Senate, NBC News reported.

Minneapolis law enforcement reported Saturday that a missing 12-year-old girl had been found, the Star Tribune reported.

Gabriella "Gabby" Vang had been missing from her home in the 2200 block of 3rd Av. S. since shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday. She was found in south Minneapolis about six hours later.

Police put out a description of her and asked for the public's help in locating her. Police said she had what was described as "a significant medical issue," the Star Tribune reported.

Authorities did not detail her medical problem, but they did say that because of her health they were concerned.

For this analysis, I will be referencing this news report.

The reporter begins with a straight, traditional news lead with all of the main facts of Mayor RT Rybak's press conference in the first graf. The second paragraph features a longer quote from the press conference, which follows the structure of a speech story because the quote is either the most interesting or the most news-worthy quote from the event.

I'm guess that Rybak had a brief or not particularly interesting press conference presentation, because the vast majority of the news story features quotes from Council President Barbara Johnson, instead of Rybak. I think it would have been nice if the reporter would have gotten unique and less formal quotes from Rybak, if they even had a chance to follow up with him.

The reporter certainly did other interviews, such as with Johnson and others, to give Rybak's speech more context and to represent different political viewpoints relevant to the topic at hand (the Vikings Stadium). With political topics, it is important to try to represent this other viewpoints, especially when there are opposing sides (or more than just two) and the public would not know much about a particular issue. The reporter also did a good job of getting both government and private viewpoints on the Vikings Stadium, which helped to give an even more diverse range of ideas.

A new survey showed University of Minnesota students living in residence halls want more inexpensive and healthy food options on campus, the Minnesota Daily reported.

The University's Obesity Prevention Center surveyed students living in Territorial Hall and Sanford Hall. Nearly 94 percent of the 1,162 respondents agreed that healthy food and beverages should be available at all University dining facilities, the Daily reported.

Almost 87 percent of students who responded said high prices are a barrier to buying healthy food, according to the Obesity Prevention Center.

The Obesity Prevention Center plans to bring the survey results to University Dining Services to discuss how to provide more healthy food options on campus, a center representative said in an interview with the Minnesota Daily.